The Pillars Of The Earth Page 0,197

were hung with tapestries, the floor was covered with fur rugs, and the bed was surrounded by embroidered curtains. On a chair like a throne sat a middle-aged woman in a gorgeous gown. She had been beautiful when she was young, Aliena guessed, although now her face was lined and her hair thin.

"This is Mistress Kate," said the girl. "Kate, this girl is penniless and her father's in the jailhouse."

Kate smiled. Aliena smiled back, but she had to force herself: there was something about Kate that she disliked. Kate said: "Take the boy to the kitchen and give him a cup of beer while we talk."

The girl took Richard out. Aliena was glad he would get some beer-perhaps they would give him something to eat as well.

Kate said: "What's your name?"

"Aliena."

"That's unusual. But I like it." She stood up and came close, a little too close. She took Aliena's chin in her hand. "You've got a very pretty face." Her breath smelled of wine. "Takeoff your cloak."

Aliena was puzzled by this inspection, but she submitted to it: it seemed harmless, and after this morning's rejections she did not want to throw away her first decent chance by seeming uncooperative. She shrugged off her cloak, dropped it on a bench, and stood there in the old linen dress the verderer's wife had given her.

Kate walked around her. For some reason she seemed impressed. "My dear girl, you need never want for money, or anything else. If you work for me we'll both be rich."

Aliena frowned. This sounded crazy. All she wanted to do was help with laundry, or cooking, or sewing: she did not see how she could make anybody rich. "What sort of work are you talking about?" she said.

Kate was behind her. She ran her hands down Aliena's sides, feeling her hips, and stood close so that Aliena could feel Kate's breasts pressing against her back. "You've got a beautiful figure," Kate said. "And your skin is lovely. You're high-born, aren't you?"

"My father was the earl of Shiring."

"Bartholomew! Well, well. I remember him-not that he was ever a customer of mine. A very virtuous man, your father. Well, I understand why you're destitute."

So Kate had customers. "What do you sell?" Aliena asked.

Kate did not answer directly. She came around in front of Aliena again, looking at her face. "Are you a virgin, dear?"

Aliena flushed with shame.

"Don't be shy," said Kate. "I see you're not. Well, no matter. Virgins are worth a lot but they don't last, of course." She put her hands on Aliena's hips, leaned forward, and kissed her forehead. "You're so voluptuous, although you don't know it. By the saints, you're irresistible." She slid her hand up from Aliena's hip to her bosom, and gently took one breast in her hand, weighing it and squeezing it slightly, then she leaned forward and kissed Aliena's lips.

Aliena understood everything in a flash: why the girl had smiled at Richard outside the mint, where Kate got her money, what Aliena would have to do if she worked for Kate, and what kind of woman Kate was. She felt foolish for not having understood earlier. For a moment she let Kate kiss her-it was so different from what William Hamleigh had done that she was not in the least repelled-but this was not it, this was not what she would have to do to earn money. She pulled away from Kate's embrace. "You want me to become a whore," she said.

"A lady of pleasure, my dear," said Kate. "Get up late, wear beautiful clothes every day, make men happy, and become rich. You'd be one of the best. There's a look about you... You could charge anything, anything. Believe me, I know."

Aliena shuddered. There had always been a whore or two at the castle-it was necessary in a place where there were so many men without their wives-and they had been regarded as the lowest of the low, the humblest of the womenfolk, below even the sweepers. But it was not the low status that made Aliena tremble with disgust. It was the idea of men such as William Hamleigh walking in and fucking her for a penny. The thought brought back the memory of his big body poised over her, as she lay on the floor with her legs apart, shaking with terror and loathing, waiting for him to penetrate her. The scene came back to her with renewed horror and took away all her poise and confidence. She felt